Augie’s To-Go: Family-Style Italian for Pick Up in Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The demolition team arrived from Schenectady alongside the Thursday morning sun and began the delicate disassembly of a fragile 19th century building on Caroline Street ravaged by fire on Thanksgiving Day. Efforts to salvage the structure, which included securing a third engineering opinion late Tuesday, proved unsuccessful. “The result is not what we hoped,” said Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation Executive Director Samantha Bosshart, in a statement issued Thursday morning. The fire displaced residents of five apartments and…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — More than fifty years ago, when the Civil Rights movement was in full swing and Medicare was in its infancy, the national median household income was $7,143, and Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thelma Williams studied at Manpower and started a career in nursing at University Hospital in Syracuse. Shortly afterwards, she began working in the operating room at Saratoga Hospital, and stayed there for 45 years, single-parenting her five…

SARATOGA SPRING — Local and regional politicians gathered with members of the Saratoga business community on Thursday, December 1 for the ribbon cutting and grand opening of The Summit at Saratoga, a 110-unit senior independent living community for those 55 and older. Located at 1 Perry Road, a short drive from an array of retail conveniences on Route 50, including major grocery and big box outlets and minutes from bustling downtown Saratoga, the three-story apartment-style community features a mix of…

BALLSTON SPA — On Saturday, December 3 Ballston Spa High School’s FIRST Robotics Team #3044 will host a Hudson Valley FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Qualifying Tournament. Teams from throughout the region will compete for the opportunity to advance to the upcoming Championship Tournament at Dutchess Community College in February 2017. This year’s FLL challenge, named Animal Allies, requires students to design a LEGO robot that can be programmed to operate independently on the competition table, and accomplish several tasks related…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Hospital Volunteer Guild has pledged $500,000—the auxiliary organization’s largest gift ever—to help bring “smart” intravenous (IV) pumps to all Saratoga Hospital facilities. The gift also is the most significant to date for the hospital’s newest fundraising initiative, which seeks more than $1 million to buy and set up 270 smart pumps and related software. In presenting the pledge, Guild President Barbara King cited the benefit to virtually everyone who turns to Saratoga Hospital for care. “That…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — James Earl Johnson of Gansevoort learned that his mother, Alice Johnson, 86, had Legionnaires’ disease a few days before her death on October 26. She had been a resident of The Wesley Community, a senior care and senior living facility in Saratoga Springs. Her case was one of 19 cases now confirmed by the New York State Department of Health (DOH) in Saratoga County. Johnson recently retained Attorney Michael Conway of Harris, Conway and Donovan, PLLC, to…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Residential Rehabilitation Grant Program provides those with limited resources the opportunity to make necessary repairs to increase the safety, security, and energy efficiency of their homes. The program may provide up to $15,000 in necessary repairs for single-family households. Resident homeowners with rental units (up to three) may be eligible for an additional $5,000 per unit if they rent to income-eligible persons at fair-market rents for a minimum of four years. The income eligibility…

SARATOGA COUNTY — The new Saratoga County GOP chair, Steve Bulger, says he has much to be thankful for this holiday season given the pretty big GOP wins in November as a result of the strong party leadership of his predecessors. “John Herrick [the former GOP county chair] had big shoes to fill when Jasper Nolan stepped down after 27 years. Nolan really helped build the Republican party into the strong committee it is now, and John kept the committee…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The lingering smell of smoke still permeated the air one week after a Thanksgiving Day fire displaced residents of five apartments and forced the closure of four businesses on Putnam and Caroline streets. A faulty electrical extension cord located in a small storage area in the rear of the Mio Posto restaurant was deemed the cause of the blaze. The structure most seriously affected, a vacant brick building on Caroline Street that most recently housed the Living…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Ten thousand days of newspapers. More than a million published words. Barbara Lombardo has served as a leading voice in the community for more than a generation - her words educating, entertaining, and often inspiring open dialogue of a variety of issues among political leaders and city residents alike. “I got into journalism during the era of Watergate,” the longtime journalist and managing editor of The Saratogian explained to a crowd gathered at the Saratoga Springs Public…

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Check, one. Check, two. Check. Check. Check. If Bobby Carlton was trying to confuse the wait staff inside the redbrick bistro that boasts creative food, craft drinks and live music, it clearly wasn’t working. Armed with their three Fender instruments – two guitars and a bass, their boxes of special effects – seven soundwave bending foot-pedals, and the back-beat thwomps of a drummer gluing it all together, Dryer celebrated the release of their new five-song EP at…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A public forum regarding the state Department of Transportation’s plans to replace two bridges in Saratoga County and maintain a third volleyed between the productive and the contentious during a meeting at the Saratoga Music Hall on Nov. 15. The forum was attended by NYSDOT representatives, area residents and local business owners. NYSDOT Project Manager Richard Filkins discussed the two bridges the agency plans to replace in 2018. The bridges that carry Crescent Avenue over the Northway,…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — After the Thanksgiving leftovers have been devoured and the chaos of Black Friday has died down, over 600 nonprofit organizations throughout the state will join together to keep “the season of giving” going. This year, The New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) and United Way of New York State (UWNYS) have partnered to launch NY Gives Day, a statewide day of giving to be held on Nov. 29. The 24-hour fundraiser will take place online from the…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The traditional lighting of the Christmas Tree, dozens of downtown sites offering free entertainment, and the seasonal arrival of Santa, Clara, Rumple Dumple and the holiday elves will highlight the 30th Annual Victorian Streetwalk, which is set to take place in downtown Saratoga Springs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1. Saratoga Central Catholic School Choir will serenade the crowd with Christmas Carols beginning at 5:45 p.m. as the children wait for Santa and…

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Mark and Maria Dailey lost their son, Christopher, on November 23, 2001. The Christopher Dailey Foundation was established with a goal to not only build a lasting and living memory of Christopher, but also to enrich the children of the local community with a place to learn, play, and enhance their lives through team and individual sports activities. “My daughter, Chris’ older sister, always found getting gym-time difficult when she was on a sports team,” recalls Mark…